[Photo] GM Korea closes its Gunsan plant

General Motors (GM) Korea shut down its Gunsan plant on May 31 as part of GM headquarters' "restructuring" process. The shutdown will affect some 2,000 factory workers. In an official announcement, GM said the Gunsan factory "built just 33,982 vehicles in 2017, or about 20 percent of its full production capacity," citing low productivity and cost efficiency as reasons for the shutdown. GM executives are currently in talks with South Korean government officials on ways to make GM Korea profitable and keep the company's international branch in Korea long-term, but negotiations also depend on whether Korean trade unions are willing to accept significant cuts to labor costs.